Graeme Hart is a man of few words and abundant nerve

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

Thousands of words have been written since December when Graeme Hart launched Burns Philp's bold $2.4 billion takeover bid for Goodman Fielder.

Characteristically, few of them have come from the lips of billionaire Hart, New Zealand's richest man, Burns Philp's controlling shareholder and its deputy chairman.

He fronted up to the media just once - on December 17 - steadily taking over a conference with Australian and international journalists from Burns Philp chief executive Tom Degnan.

The ease with which he answered questions dispelled any suggestion that this was a man who was shy or uncomfortable in the spotlight.

The usually subterranean profile seems to be a deliberate choice by a meticulous planner.

Hart had to front up in December to promote his bid and he did. He has not needed to do anything publicly since and he hasn't.

And that would seem to be the case most of the time, though Hart, perhaps chuffed at making a killing when buying major milk marketer New Zealand Dairy Foods, gave a rare interview to the Business Herald last year about the deal.

Then, too, he was forthcoming - but only to a point. Repeated inquiries about his plans for the company were batted away good-naturedly.

Hart - 16-year-old school-leaver, former panelbeater and tow-truck driver who parlayed drive and determination into dollars and a business management degree - must have taken quiet satisfaction in recent months watching his reputation go from zero to hero among the Australian commentators who bagged him so mercilessly five years ago.

Soon after he bought Burns Philp the company crashed in the second-largest plunge in Australian corporate history, prompting some to suggest Hart would soon be another New Zealander on the dole in Australia.

With Burns Philp safely transformed from sharemarket dog to analysts' darling, Melbourne's The Age newspaper could enthuse in December that "only an entrepreneur would contemplate risking everything, for the second time in five years, on a bid for a company that, today, has a market value about three times that of Burns Philp".

"While Burns Philp does have a lot of contingent equity, which, if exercised and converted, gives it an enterprise value similar to that of Goodman, if the bid succeeds, but the acquisition turns out to be a failure, that potential equity - most of it is Hart's - could evaporate or have far less value.

"So, Hart is rolling the dice, again. The gamble, however, is a calculated one."

The first part of the calculation just paid off.


* Goodman Fielder, Australia's largest food company, contributes well-known brands, including in baking, Quality Bakers, Vogel's, Freya's and Earnest Adams; in edible oils, Meadow Lea, Sunrise, Olivani and Gold'N Canola; and in cereals and snacks, Uncle Tobys, White Wings and Bluebird.

* Burns Philp, a Sydney-headquartered global yeast and natural food ingredients manufacturer about a third the size of Goodman Fielder, contributes a range of yeast products, bakery ingredients, herbs and spices. Burns Philp's major shareholder, New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart, also controls the country's biggest milk marketer, New Zealand Dairy Foods.

* A combined Burns Philp-Goodman Fielder will have assets of A$4.5 billion ($4.9 billion), annual revenue of A$4 billion and pre-tax earnings of more than A$430 million. It will have operations in 25 countries and more than 16,000 employees.